Drowning in Shallow Water - Fire and Ice Part I
by Awatere11
Summary: An accident long ago plunged the world into the seas, the ice melts covering everything. Now they live on small pockets of land. Yvonne in her glass tower, Jack in his submarine. Ianto? The poor agent who must liaise between the two enemies. If only he can keep his love for Jack hidden from her but she is a psych too. For my Meretrixvilis as I love crumbly cake **ALT Verse*
1. Chapter 1

In a world of water, where only the strong can keep afloat, Jack cruises at a lower altitude than most. The polar icecaps have melted and the world is now mostly water with those left fighting for space. Land. Freedom. Thrones. Yvonne desires the finest crown of all. HRH Queen Elizabeth II is her only obstacle and the Queen's Hand Jack Harkness. Her faithful servant Ianto is the liaison in this war and her only trusted confidant. How will Jack and Ianto survive this one? Will they sink or swim?

* * *

1

Ianto bowed deeply, sighing internally as he waited for her to acknowledge him.

She was standing in front of the full length mirror with a face like thunder, looking at the reflection with a frown he knew all too well and he sighed softly again, knowing this was about to get ugly. The gown was ornate, black velvet with the train dragging. The white fur trim was expensive, not many white furred things left in this world ya know.

"These buttons" she said, turning to face the seamstress who made a small noise, "Are these brass?"

"Rose gold" she simpered with open fear, "More expensive and less…ordinary. No other will have Rose Gold Buttons, only common gold."

Yvonne took a deep breath as she regarded the simpering fool at her feet and her head turned fractionally in Ianto's direction. He knew she was waiting and he thought quickly and answered with the deadliest calm he could muster.

"I do not believe even Her Majesty would have Rose Gold" Ianto said slowly, "I heard she had a tiara with it in the bridging for the diamonds but that was before the fall. Rose Gold is quite scarce now."

Yvonne stared at him and he could feel her scrabbling about in the back of his mind, like a fucking insect. He kept the image of a tiara in his mind and brought up another of a young carefree woman that might have been Yvonne once upon a time, her face carefree and her hair loose about her face.

Yvonne smiled.

"OK" she swung from the mirror and walked towards her dressing room. The room seemed to deflate with relief as she left them. All except Ianto who remained ramrod stiff, his hands clasped together and one of the women noticed, straightening as well.

Yvonne stepped back into the room, her eyes roving around those caught unawares and settling on the young woman who still knelt next to Ianto with a calm expression.

"You" she demanded, "Come tend."

The woman looked at Ianto with delight, racing to help and Ianto sighed internally as he resisted the urge to warn her that she needed to be less perky. Only Yvonne got to be perky. Like the fucking Dark Queen or something. Off with her fucking head. Well. Really, Yvonne would prefer to see the Queen herself's head roll across the floor to her feet but Her Majesty had been clever thus far. She kept her distance.

Ianto walked out to the balcony and looked over Yvonne's piece of world.

Water.

It had happened slowly at first, this global phenomenon that led to this new world. The polar ice caps had melted, the world had changed. No the UK was no more. Well, the old world was long gone. Now we have this strange Mecca called the Canary Reefs where the small pockets of land left were fought over violently and although Yvonne publically declared herself loyal to the crown all who really knew her knew she WAS IN CHARGE!

Well.

Apart from Balmorals Aisle, which was the one spec of land Her Majesty had managed to maintain. And the reason?

Jack Harkness. Captain.

Ianto found his eyes sliding to the west where Jack's submarine sat, the Torchwood III or T3 it was affectionately called by Her Majesty. Jack was her favourite person, as much as he was Yvonne's most hated. Jack's loyalty was unquestionable. Her Majesty was safe from any enemy foreign or domestic. Well…you can't really call Yvonne domestic I guess. Jack was stuck on that thing, unable to step foot on any land bar Her Majesty's Balmorals Aisle. He was the fly in Yvonne's ointment and she was desperate to knock him down a peg or two…or drown him at the bottom of the world. It was said nobody knew where he was at any one time so Ianto did not let his gaze linger too long.

"Ianto" she entered the room again, the sound of soft sobbing cut off as she closed the door, "I have a job for you."

"Yes my Empress?" Ianto asked with what he hoped was a confident expression as he had the image of balloons drifting in his mind. She likes things that float.

We all float down here.

Stop it.

He smiled as he tried not to look too alarmed by the power she was wielding.

She laughed.

Then he realised what she had said and he tried not to look to eager.

He knew where she was about to send him, where she only chose him to represent her as she was so sure of his loyalty. Had he not worked so bloody hard for that image?

Yes.

He was going to see Jack.

Ianto's heart soared higher than any balloon ever could.


	2. Chapter 2

2

The submarine was cresting, Ianto standing on the deck of the destroyer watching impassively as it breached the water and cruised towards them. As it came alongside Ianto didn't flinch even though some stepped back from the wave of water the wake caused.

As always, he had judged it so the water came within an inch of his toes, but not touching so as everyone was laughing with soft embarrassment he was already moving forward and the hatch sprung open. Ianto was on the bulwarks, moving at speed and the man who was to accompany him barked with shock as he realised he was being left behind, Ianto disappearing as the hatch slammed shut and the T3 started to move away.

"You bloody twat" a voice said softly, "You know she will not be pleased, were you not warned that he moves like a fucking race horse? You have limited time, the Captain times it so no one has time to triangulate his position."

"But it's not my fault" the man wailed.

"Look. Stay here, keep your trap shut and when he gets back maybe I can talk him into pretending you went with him. Just shut the fuck up and get below before she sees you, her spy drones pass every now and then" the captain of the destroyer growled, then hid his smile as he watched the man scuttle below.

The Harwood turned away as Captain Williams wandered up to the bridge, the double ping on the radar telling him Jack was away.

On board the Torchwood Ianto and Jack were staring at each other, then Jack began to move, "Mister Jones, another visit to pick my brain is it?"

"Sorry Sir, she is quite stuck on this artefact, perhaps you can help with its classification?" Ianto said softly as he moved after the man who was walking with haste towards his Ready Room.

"Costello, I don't want to be disturbed while transcribing with Mister Jones" Jack snarked and Suzie turned, trying not to roll her eyes at him. Tosh and Owen glanced at each other, then went back to their work stations.

Jack closed the door and paused for a moment before turning back to Ianto who was placing his briefcase down on the table before he slid his jacket from his shoulders placing it on the back of a chair.

"How is she?"

"Still plotting" Ianto replied softly, looking through his lashes at Jack, "She is getting stronger. She was almost through my second firewall today."

"Are you OK?" Jack moved closer and Ianto sighed, slumping against him as those strong arms rose to gather him close, "Ianto?"

"Oh Jack, this is all so fucking hard" Ianto returned the embrace as his lover smashed their mouths together greedily. After a while Ianto moved back as he gasped for air, Jack laughing as he refused to release him.

"It's been too long, three weeks this time" Jack said as he stroked Ianto's cheek, "Why the delay?"

"She is stuck on this bloody ball" Ianto shrugged, "Jack, things are getting dangerous. She knows HRH will be there, she is scheming again."

"Did you get anything from her?"

"No" Ianto frowned, "I haven't been able to get close enough, so many people about that we are never alone for me to focus. I don't think she suspects. Yet. Until we work out how she keeps getting your codes we have to remain diligent Cariad"

"I know" Jack sat and pulled Ianto into his lap, "This summit meeting your mad witch is calling a ball might be the only time someone can really have a go at HRH, this could be dangerous for all of us."

"There is something" Ianto said softly, still worrying about what Jack's reaction would be.

"Yeah?" Jack squeezed softly.

"There is an artefact she is hunting for" Ianto told him as he played with his tie, "She is calling it a Planet Recharger or something."

Jack's hands stopped moving as he looked up at Ianto, the silk tie slipping through his fingers, "A terra-former?"

Ianto nodded mutely, feeling Jack's alarm through his 'gift' as Jack rose and moved to the end of the table and initiated the AI.

"This?" Jack asked as an image appeared in thin air, a 3D model of a strange looking piece of technology that resembled a car's starter motor.

"Yeah" Ianto frowned as he looked at it floating in front of him, "But it is a different colour. It's green."

"Green" Jack whispered, "A ground maker. These are for planets without life, to create atmosphere and such. Jesus Ianto, kicking one off on this planet would reverse the effects of the Germainia Effect."

"Jack?"

"Yes love?"

"Why is it called that?"

"The Doctor's companion at the time was called Germaine and he was the idiot that removed a Bertov from the Tardis. Just a child apparently, well a teenager. Of course the strength of the sun enhanced it's heat factor, causing a global effect."

"Is that why Yvonne hates the Doctor?" Ianto asked as he removed the tie and handed it to Jack, knowing this was what he wanted.

"She thought she had a chance at the crown" Jack agreed as he started to tie Ianto's wrists gently, "This happened within the space of three days. Three days and her plans were up in smoke….or underwater. She was literally sunk."

Ianto grinned at Jack as he leaned in close.

"I have a secret" he whispered.

"You wore the red undies?" Jack asked with a theatrical gasp.

"No" Ianto giggled, "She has someone in her basement that she won't let me see."

"Really?" Jack's grin slid away, "Are you sure? She shares everything with you."

"Nope" Ianto shook his head, "Whoever he is, she is scared of him. She won't let anyone down there."

Jack looked long and hard at Ianto as he wondered who would have Yvonne so shaken.

He thought she was unflappable.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Ianto stepped aboard the Harwood and saw Captain Rhys Williams waiting, their nods of polite greeting as they walked towards his quarters slight and proper for two professional servicemen as the crew worked on around them but as they reached the door Rhys clapped him on the shoulder and whispered, "he all but shat himself while you were gone mate. He's sure you are gonna pot him to the ice queen."

Ianto stepped over the small doorway and into the room, finding the man he had left behind sitting forlornly at the table. It had only been eight glorious hours but Andy looked like he had aged at least eight years, his face ashen as he looked up, the relief fleeting as he went back to jigging his knee nervously as Ianto moved to stow his briefcase. Just eight hours. So short. Too short. He was usually there over a 24 hour period but whoever she had in her dungeon was making her overly nervous which was coming off as anger. Jack had been confused by the artefact at first, then his laugher had bounced off the walls as he finally got to say his favourite title he gave everything at first before finally admitting it's true concept. Then giving Ianto an alternative one to tell her so it was not actually used for it's intended purpose. To find one had finally truly arrived had sent him off in hysterics.

An Alien Sex Toy.

He had offered to demonstrate and Ianto had been forced to slap him a wee bit. Jack had enjoyed that no end. Naughty, naughty man.

"Master Davison" Ianto sighed "What am I to do with you. You know I chose you for this; she was all for sending that silly woman with the gap on her teeth that makes me bristle all the time. For some reason I can't quite understand I don't want her leaving the Abbey."

Sorry sir" Andy whimpered "I forgot to hustle."

"Well, we can't very well tell her that" Ianto rolled his eyes, "We shall say you were sea sick and spent the time in quarters. OK?"

Andy looked relieved as he nodded enthusiastically, "Thank you sir."

"Oh and Andy?" Ianto turned to look at him squarely, "Don't call me that. She hates anyone having a title but her. Call me Ianto. It will show her that we have bonded or something. She will be more likely to send you again, thinking we work well together. She likes to think she is creating teams to do her bidding, like flying fucking monkeys."

Andy snorted.

"And one more thing" Ianto sat as he decided he liked this man, "She can read minds with that necklace she wears. When in her presence keep an image in your mind, or a favourite song. Something benign so if she sweeps she will not see fear or dislike. Any hint and she will have you removed. And you know what I mean by removed. Right?"

Andy blinked.

"I have an image of how I think she might have looked like if she were not so…jaded. I think it is how she sees herself because it seems to please her each time she finds it. A young woman, long flowing hair running in a field of grass. Remember grass? Long and lovely, the wind bending it? Think of that, or a doe running, long legs …something pleasing and graceful. Even a butterfly. Something nice. She seems to like that."

"Right, right" Andy nodded "She scared the bejesus out of me I'm not ashamed to admit it. She has this way of looking at you like you are a bug or something."

"It is a gift, an ancient art called being a woman" Ianto quipped and Andy laughed softly, then glanced at Ianto.

"Did we get what we need?"

"Yes" Ianto grimaced, "He made me work for it though. Gods, that man is hard work."

"I understand there were six he went though before you" Andy said after a while, "She was displeased with them all."

"Let's just say the Captain had a habit of contaminating things" Ianto said, hating to speak about Jack this way but knowing Andy's heart was too good to hold such dark secrets like his did, "He has met his match with me. I am loyal. This is something that can never be changed. Loyal."

To Jack.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Ianto was drowning.

The water seemed heavy as it pressed against his body.

A vessel. Just a vessel.

Ianto struggled to maintain some level of calm as he lay under the water and suddenly Jack's face was there, pale and startled as he reached down and yanked Ianto up into his arms.

"By the Great Moons, what the fuck are you doing" he was shouting, holding Ianto against him in the cooling bath water, Ianto gasping for air in the small bathroom.

They were at the Hub.

The real prison Jack must endure until Yvonne either dies or manages to capture him.

Once upon a time, back before the ice melted plunging the land to its watery depths this was a Nuclear Installation. Already underwater, it was well suited to the coming floods and Jack had the foresight to transfer a lot of his operations there before Wales was gone.

Gone.

Still hurts to remember, even though he had just been a small child when the lovely glens and moors of Wales and Scotland finally went under, all save the high ground of Balmorals Aisles and a few scattered mountains that were now angry islands.

Yvonne lived in the tower. At a place called the Warf. Half it was under water, strange and eerie to walk under there in the lower airtight levels, even though he had no such alarm in the Hub. Water tight, reclamation units recycling the air and gleaning more if needed from the water around it, the Hub was a deep sea platform that not only kept Jack too deep for her to snatch, but it was large enough to sustain the lives of not only his immediate team and a small community.

His bathroom was the ensuite to the Captain's Berth and right now it was full of noise as Jack roared at him for his stupidity.

"Don't shout at me" Ianto said calmly, showing he was now breathing normally and Jack deflated, as he always did when Ianto failed to react to his fake threats.

"Why" Jack asked with a sigh, his hands still shaking, "Why try to die?"

"Try to…" Ianto started to laugh as he clutched the edge of the tub and Jack frowned. "Cariad, I was not trying to drown. I was trying not to."

"That dream?" Jack asked softly, Ianto's reoccurring dream of drowning in the dark woke him most nights and it was a strange thing to know someone who lived in this world of water yet could not swim.

Ianto had been a small child when he had slipped into the water while playing with his older sister Rhiannon. His father had tried to grasp him but he sank like a stone, his father and sister diving after him and he still remembered the fear, the overwhelming, crippling horror as they faded from his sight and the dark swallowed him.

His father had saved him.

Rhiannon drowned.

Ianto never forgave himself for her death, nor had his parents. His mother grief stricken and suicidal had followed her daughter several days later with the help of a cinder block and a rope around her neck, stepping from the same edge of the pier.

Ianto's father had, unfortunately taken a long time to drink himself to death, Ianto suffering the beatings of a drunken father that he secretly felt he deserved for costing their family their lives. It had moulded him, Hones him into the an he was today. Strong, able to withstand pain and fear without flinching. This is why he could look her in the eye as he lied through his teeth.

"It's just a dream" Jack soothed, "Just a horrible, self attacking dream."

"It's weird though, it's not a memory because I do not recognise where I am and I definitely feel adult." Ianto replied as he rose from the cooling water and held his hands out, "No, no kisses. The water is too cold for another dunk and you know she will smell you on me."

Jack sighed as he nodded, knowing Ianto was right. These ritualistic scrubbings needed to hide their trysts. His exotic scent was too recognisable.

Ianto pulled on a robe and Jack walked though to the quarters where he found Andy sitting drumming his fingers on the arm of a chair, his face one of concentration.

"I've been thinking"

"Does it hurt? Cos, I trued that a few times and gave up" Jack replied as he sat in another chair and leaned across the small breakfast table to pour the tea.

"I know why she chose me. Why he had to scrub himself like that" Andy pointed out and Jack's hand froze as he wondered if he had to kill this man then Andy continued to speak, "It's the same reason I do. She thought I might interest him. He said she likes to pair people up. Right?"

Jack nodded as he let his hand continue its destination and Ianto entered the room while trying to do up his double breasted tunic.

"Here, let me" Andy rose to adjust the high collar, "As I was saying. Ianto has to scrub to remove your scent, she smells you on him, right? She has paired us so it makes sense that me and him rub together or at least handle each other's clothing before we leave to let her think she is successful here. Then she will keep sending us both, you can keep your liaisons going…"

"And so can you and Captain Williams" Jack finished with a soft grin, "You cheeky monkey. You and Rhys huh?"

"Your hair is wetter than mine, you need to work on making it look dry." Ianto said as his hands went up to fix Andy's hair.

"Well you scrub, I thought it was a good idea. She might smell me too or something. If she smells Rhys she will figure out we are not exactly keeping things Kosher." Andy shrugged.

"Kosher." Jack repeated, "I've not heard that in such a long time. Your grandfather?"

"Grandma" Andy nodded, "She was of the old Jewish faith. One of the last still clinging to the hopes of some omnipotent god going to save us. Of course we all know the only omnipotent one is in her glass fucking tower."

Jack grinned as he decided he liked this guy, like him a lot.

Especially the way his hands brushed Ianto's shoulder before dropping in an effeminate way that would please the ice queen.

Ianto looked to Jack and nodded.

Yes.

He will do.


	5. Chapter 5

5

Ianto stood and watched the birds circle overhead, their mournful cries as they lamented the end of the day filling him with a peaceful calm.

"Come on slowpoke" Lisa called out, her bobble hat slipping as she reached up to push it back, "We have another ten minutes of tramping at least if we are going to set up camp and you know who is on tent duty mister!"

Ianto turned to look at the black beauty, her slender legs disappearing up into the Daisy Dukes she wore and the shirt tied in a knot to show her taught stomach, "Why do I have to do the tent pray tell?"

"Because I have to be the fire" she laughed, "You are crap at fire starting!"

"Oi!" he spluttered as he went to follow, slipping on the wet moss of the valley floor and as he stumbled the ground rose to form water, whooshing up and capturing him in a tumultuous flood. Lisa was screaming his name as she flailed and he tried to reach her but he was sinking.

Sinking.

Ianto woke.

"Easy" Jack's voice was soft as he pulled his love to him and Ianto shook with fear, the lingering dream plaguing him as it always did and he gasped for air.

"A dream" Jack soothed, "Another weird shitty dream."

"Lisa" Ianto choked, "remember her? The black one?"

"You liked her" Jack agreed, "I was a little jealous."

Ianto snorted as he started to regain his composure and he settled against Jack's chest in the dark berthage, "I did. Unfortunately she got ambitious and the Omnipotent One got a wee bit jealous of someone looking better than her wafting about. It was horrible. I had to stand and watch her drown like that, in that silver armour she had been dressed in. Yvonne had been….gleeful."

"It was a hard time, you and I had started realising our feelings and you were building firewalls" Jack agreed, "She almost tore them apart that day."

"It's weird" Ianto frowned, the dream still lingering, "The world…it was not water. I saw trees, moss, grass. We were walking in …gods what was it called….bush land. Woods?"

"You and your historical records" Jack sighed, "You spend so much time looking for the old photos and such of the world the way it was, darling we have to accept that it is gone. Long gone."

"I know" Ianto wriggled, "But imagine Cariad. Walking everywhere. Water was kept in a glass. So many animals, I would have loved to have seen a horse. A real horse, or a dog. Can you imagine? One of those big ones, not the small breed still here, but an extinct breed like and a Shepherd or Labrador?"

"Yeah" Jack smiled as he thought of the old books Ianto had found and gushed over. Something forbidden… books. Jack held fast to his little library knowing how much they pleased his love. Such a little thing but you know what water does to paper, right?

"The thing is" Ianto looked up at Jack with wide eyes, "It was like someone else's memory. My feet hurt and I smelt the air, it was different. She was different. Maybe it's a book I read, a scene and my memory assimilated her into it."

"Who can say" Jack crooned as he helped Ianto settle again, a 48 hour visit such a rare thing and they were revelling in the bare skin of each other as Andy and Rhys had stayed topside on the Harwood.

"She is getting more annoyed with her prisoner" Ianto said after a while, "More tech is being brought out. She seems to be looking for something in particular but won't say. Whatever it is, she seems almost frantic to find it. Own it."

"This the artefact you are supposed to drill me about?" Jack ssked.

"Well, the drilling was not so bad" Ianto said and giggled as Jack tickled him savagely, "Stop, I'll pee. No, yes."

"Which. No or yes?" Jack laughed.

"No, stop tickling. Yes the artefact is what I am to ask you about" Ianto snorted.

"But you don't know what it is" Jack sighed.

"No. I do know it's big" Ianto rolled onto Jack's chest and slapped, "The artefact, don't start that again either."

Jack laughed.

"It's like…a crate or something. It's big like a wardrobe or a crate. A coffin. Something like that. I am to check your storage for a large box. Take photos of all of them and return to her with the evidence."

"Well. Once you have finished drilling me some more we should go have a look" Jack said happily and Ianto hummed, "What?"

"Well" Ianto fluttered his lashes, "You don't think maybe you should drill me? Just in case?"

Jack's face lit up as he grabbed Ianto who squealed as they rolled in the bedding and Jack settled between his legs.

"Oh yeah" Jack breathed as he stroked Ianto's face, "Just in case."

Up in her glass tower the Ice Queen waited. Her foot tapping with impatience. She must have that damned machine.

Her Realm depended on it.


	6. Chapter 6

6

Ianto stood calmly as the queen looked at the pictures laid out with precision on the table. As always, Ianto had brought her many and she was pleased with this.

Her hand lingered over one and she picked it up, Jack visible in the edge of the shot looking at something else, his head craning up.

"What was he looking at?" she demanded and Ianto took a step forward, leaning over to see as she took a deep whiff of his hair, then he straightened up.

"A tank my Queen" he said softly, "It houses a huge lumbering sea creature with an injured flipper. It was being nursed by his team. Er…..here."

Ianto was searching his file in his hand and pulled out a shot of the whale, handing it over and she looked at it with interest.

"I smell Young master Davidson on you" she said as she handed the photo back and Ianto tried not to let his hand shake as he accepted it and smiled softly.

"We may have brushed in the elevator on the way up, he is outside waiting for me" Ianto hoped he looked embarrassed enough, yet happy still, "We are imbibing lunch after this and going over the photos. He would like to take a couple to the lower levels to see if some of the pieces can be better examined."

She hummed happily as she scooped up several, "I will keep these, see if he reacts. Thank you Ianto. As always you have pleased me."

"And in doing so, I am fulfilled" Ianto bowed deeply, "My beloved Queen, I live to serve only you. Most beautiful of all creatures."

She beamed with delight as she flicked the photos onto her desk and she moved around to face him, "Ianto, dear child. So much is happening now, a time may come when that loyalty is questioned, can I count on you?"

Here is was.

Ianto chose a new image, one he had not used before.

He imagined her as the most beautiful woman in the world, shining as she stood on a hill overlooking the oceans with her hair flying and men bowing at her feet. This time, he saw himself sitting at her feet like one of those little dogs those of great wealth have, his gaze down at the men with a look of fierce loyalty.

He felt her flittering in his head, it was almost painful this time as she challenged his firewalls and he blinked, smiling politely like he didn't know she was in there, "My beloved? Loyal? Need you ask? Always you ask?"

She blinked as she stepped back and her hand fell from his shoulder as she smiled, "No. I do not question you sweetling. You know which side your bread is buttered."

She turned away, her long hair bouncing as she swished over to look back out at the water below.

"May I serve?" Ianto offered.

"You do serve" she said flatly, "You serve enough. Send in Davidson."

Ianto made a small noise and she swung to face him, her frown softening, "Do not worry. I only want to thank him for pleasing you. I will not ask him to serve in your stead."

"My queen. It's just…I know it is silly but..." Ianto simpered and wrung his hands, "I do love you so very much. I know I will always wish to serve, I know you will always deny me that and I accept it but …Andy. If he were to serve you instead I fear my jealousy…as much as I have grown to like him the thought of him touching you fills me with such anger I my harm him. I cannot have a mate that has touched you, not when I cannot."

"Ahhhhhhhh" she smiled as she melted with delight, "Do not worry. I will never bed you because you are to important and we both know those I bed I grow weary of. I wish to always have you. If this thought of another in my bed upsets you then I will not choose him. I promise, my sweetling. How sweet, you love me so."

"You are my queen" Ianto said sullenly, pouting as he has seen Jack do, "I would kill any who displeases you. But…I do like him."

"Good" she grinned with glee, "Then he is also considered chaste. I shall have…Mathew, the redhead. Send him in. I suddenly feel like a big fat one today."

Ianto bowed and scuttled from the room, leaning against the doors once closed and looking at Andy who sat unaware of how close he had come to danger.

For she was also known as the Black Widow in the shadows, whispered in the corners.

For all she beds she eventually kills.

Once she knows all their secrets.

They didn't call her a wicked witch for nothing ya know.


	7. Chapter 7

7

She watched him intently as he looked at each photo as she placed them down.

No response.

Now she was growing annoyed as this had been her last hope, then she noticed something. One of the photos had piqued his interest and his eyes slid to it occasionally then away.

She picked up the photo that had Jack in it looking up out of frame.

"This one?" she grinned slowly as he looked surprised, then unconcerned again as he shrugged and looked away. "This one."

She handed the picture to her simpering fool and he scuttled off to make copies, this photo being special and she smiled as she settled back to gloat, "So, that box is important to you is it? Got a thing for boxes?"

The man refused to comment and she bristled as she rose, "Never mind. He will give it to me. In the end he always gives in, one way or a-fucking-nother!"

She stormed from the cell with growing rage, she had shown him anger. She had reacted. For a moment he had won. Damn it.

Ianto was waiting patiently and as she strode into the room he rose from the chair he had been seated in, his smile fading as he saw her anger and he took a deep breath then bowed, "My beloved. Who has displeased you so? May I smite them for you?"

She looked at him long and hard then deflated as she let her breath out with a whoosh.

"My queen" Ianto canted his head, "There is none as lovely or clever. Do not let a fool lead you. You are the queen. All wise, all knowing. Only those who fear you, challenge you so. Why must they all upset you like this? Just because we are but simple fools in the presence of your majesty? My wish is to one day bow to the Queen of all the Aisles. You will be majestic."

"Thank you dear" she sighed as she settled, the photo still bothering her and she tapped her tablet to bring the image up on the wall, "Ianto, do you have any other pictures of this crate? He reacted to this photo."

Ianto looked at the image, Jack's hands in his packets as he looked up, his Great Coat splayed out and the VM on his wrist was clearly visible.

Shit.

Ianto looked at the nondescript brown wooden crate that stood on one end, the alien markings meaning nothing to him and his eyes slid again to the VM on his beloved.

Ianto felt a sudden calm, his inner defences slamming down as she stood behind him and he cursed himself for a moment of stupidity in looking at all, then turned and smiled, "My lady, I do believe I have a shot of this from another angle, perhaps I may take my leave to hunt it down, it is only a partial shot so I never developed it but it is still there on the chip."

"Go" she waved her hand and watched him move with that grace she liked so much, the door closing quietly and she stood staring at the image. What was he looking at with that level of intensity?

"What are you hiding from me" she muttered as she stared at the crate, her eyes taking in the markings, the wood grain and then she examined the edges, maybe something was loose or something was showing he could see but she could not.

Nothing.

"Computer" she demanded and the image changed to a dull screen, "I want that image on his wall, I want you to show me what he is looking at when he sees it there."

Several floors below, a wall flickered to life and her prisoner looked up from where he sat with his hands clasped in his lap, the image from before now blown up for him on the wall. He stared for a while and then rose to approach first looking at Jack, then refocusing behind him.

Behind the crate.

He was looking towards the back of the room and she struggled, tapping the screen to enhance.

She couldn't see anything there that might be of interest and she lifted her hand to tap the image away when her hand hesitated and froze.

That was not a shadow.

Standing behind the crate, same size, same dimensions, another one.

She had thought it a shadow of the first, now she could see something resembling …windows?

She canted her head and hummed.

.

.

.

.

Ianto's heart was pounding as he moved, already formulating the coded message and he slammed into his quarters, reaching for his Vid-com screen and he froze.

Would she be watching?

His hand dropped and he cursed, pulling out his diary instead and he began to write the code down. His gut telling him to appear calm as a small light in the corner of the room blinked.

.

.

.

She watched her faithful man write for a while and then Andy entered the room looking concerned.

"Are you OK?" Andy asked, "You look shaken."

"I am coming down with something" Ianto sighed, rising and heading for the bathroom, "Maybe a painkiller for this headache, I'm fine sweetheart."

Andy hid his surprise and sat, noticing the diary open and he read the entry with alarm as the code was one Ianto had taught him, he then leaned back and considered.

"Babe? Sorry, I peeked at your entry" Andy called to the bathroom, "I see you feel worse than you are admitting. Let me go to the infirmary and fetch something stronger, OK?"

"Thank you" Ianto entered, staring intently as he nodded and Andy rose to race off.

Their contact at the infirmary, Owen Harper, will know how to pass on the message to Jack.

A time to be careful.

Ianto was afraid.

Now Andy was too.


	8. Chapter 8

8

Jack paced as Owen swung in the chair with his feet on the desk, playing with a small ball he threw up and then caught with such ease that it was clearly his favourite trick.

"Did he say anything else?" Jack demanded.

"No" Owen replied calmly, this line of questioning had been going for several minutes and he threw the ball again, this time Jack snatched it from the air with such speed that Owen jumped. "Shit"

"Owen, I am not fucking playing here" Jack snarled.

"OK" Owen laughed shakily as he placed his feet on the grating of the Hub floor and took a deep breath, "One of the photos has you in it. Looking at our Tank Friend. The plain wooden crate with the weird hieroglyphics is behind you, the item is in the main frame, you stepped back as he took it, only reason you were caught by the camera. She was pissed, beyond pissed about something the prisoner reacted to in the photo. Ianto is not sure if it is the crate or your wrist strap which is visible in the shot."

"Got it" Toshiko called out, the screen beside them becoming static, binary code, then black for a moment before the image burst onto screen and Jack looked at his likeness and cursed. The VM was practically poking tongues.

"I am working on the hieroglyphs" Tosh called out, "Do you recognise the language at all?"

They didn't know what the wrist strap was, none of them except Jack and he had small comfort in that fact. No one knew. So how did she? Maybe she didn't. Maybe Ianto was panicking.

Jack paused mid-stride as another thought occurred to him.

How did Ianto know then?

Jack turned to stare at the photo again, his blood running cold.

.

.

.

.

Ianto was waiting for his answer, pacing as Andy calmly read a book. These things were super fun, turning a page to discover the next part of the story was so much more exciting that it all laid out in a long scroll.

"Taking too long" Ianto muttered.

"Not my fault" Andy sighed, "I am still getting used to turning pages."

Ianto glanced over and couldn't help but smile at the miscommunication, realising he was acting overly excitable himself. He chose a seat and looked around Owen's office with interest. This man was not only a healer but a collector of the weird. Things in jars, stuffed things, pieces of things. It was all a bit like a Harry Potter Movie set.

A what?

Ianto frowned a he found that peculiar thought whispering. What the hell was a Movie Set?

Andy glanced up from his book, "You having another weird day-mare or whatever?"

"No" Ianto tried not to snap, rising as the door opened and Owen entered, placing a small piece of tech on the desk as he sat, it looked like all the other shit on the desk but Ianto felt something emanating from it.

"Scrambler" Owen explained as he noted Ianto's stare, "Any recording devices, bugs or what not are now inactive. Look, he is spinning out there and I don't know why. The photo put him on alert and he is locking everything down like a mad man. He won't tell me why, just that you need to come in."

"I don't know how to wrangle it" Ianto admitted, "She is getting more paranoid the longer she must face the prisoner. She seems…I know this will sound silly, but she seems afraid of him somehow."

"You're right" Owen snorted, "It does sound stupid."

"Tell him I shall try my best" Ianto rose to leave and Andy slipped a piece of paper on the desk as he rose to follow.

"You always do" Owen shouted after him as he reached out and plucked the piece of paper up, opening it to see what Any had not wanted to say in front of Ianto.

' _He is scared'_

Owen stared at it long and hard and then looked at the open door, sliding the piece of paper into his pocket as he retrieved his ball and started to throw it into the air, his feet slamming onto the desk.

He didn't like this shit one little bit.

The Heebie-Jeebies were like a bad smell lingering in the room.

.

.

.

"You requested me my beloved?" Ianto bowed deeply, trying to look half asleep and surprised as he watched her swish about the room, her usually black robes gone as she wore a striking red cape he had never seen before.

Such a bold colour in a colourless world was shocking and he was dumbstruck by its beauty. She paused to swing in his direction the material whispering as it fell into large folds.

"Beautiful" he whispered and she started, looking down at herself and then she smiled. Once again he had soothed her.

"The other picture, you have it?" she demanded.

"Yes my love" Ianto frowned, "I have. I sent it to your Melina not two hours since. Why has she not passed it on?"

She clenched her fist as her anger flared.

Of course he did.

How could she ever have doubted that he would have done so before lying down with his headache.

Of course he pleased her first.

How could she have doubted his loyalty.

She swept from the room with deadly intent and Ianto sighed.

Melina was stupid and it took so long to train another to perform the daily tasks the Omnipotent One required.

Damn it all.

Ianto followed to see if he could save the foolish girl's life for her stupidity.

He really didn't need this shit.


	9. Chapter 9

9

Ianto felt weird, something in the air had changed and he felt it as he walked down the winding staircase towards Melina's office.

Someone else was there.

He could feel her, just behind the wall but as he turned the corner he found nobody hiding there, crouched as he had imagined and he shook his head as he tried to dispel the image of the blonde woman weeping with her cheek against the paintwork.

Weird.

He entered Melina's small room, airless and cloying after the large open office of Yvonne's and immediately he saw he was a beat too late. Maybe if he hadn't hesitated with that weird day-mare of the blonde woman, maybe if he had been sturdier on his feet but he had stumbled several times and was now out of breath.

Damn it.

All that breathing practice but here he was panting and trying to focus his mind as she swung to face him, the lifeless body of the girl falling from her hand.

"She knew I was waiting for it" she snarled as Ianto brushed past, reaching for the controls and the picture flickered onto the screen but still she stared at him as he stood trying to catch his breath, sweating from the exertion.

She stepped towards him and inhaled.

Ianto looked up with surprise as she swung and his last conscious thought was one of confusion.

He hadn't been with Jack in almost four days.

How the hell had she smelt him?

.

.

.

.

.

Owen was throwing his ball when the coms pings and he dropped it with surprise as his feet slammed to the floor and he reached for the coms device with one hand as the other slapped the scrambling tech.

"What the hell" he said as it hissed.

" _Where the hell is he?"_

"what?" Owen frowned at Jack's snarl.

" _Ianto. He was supposed to come back with her reactions to the second photo hours ago. You know the deal. He is an hour overdue" Jack was trying to remain calm but failing miserably as Owen heard something smash at the other end, "Go find him. Ianto is never late. He is fucking loyal!"_

Owen rose and hooked his leather jacket from the chair he had been sitting in and he flung the white coat into it instead, striding from the room with growling dread.

Jack was right.

Ianto was never late.

.

.

.

.

Ianto's head was pounding and he felt ill, struggling to sit up as he looked blearily about and tried not to panic. He knew he was though, the sound he could hear was his own whimpering but he struggled to find a calm thought and found one.

A small child in a park. His Da was pushing him on a swing, up and up. He was laughing and other children were running around. The sun was shinning and the smell of the grass as his drunken father shoved too hard….

Ianto's eyes flew open and he cursed softly.

Another weird day-mare.

"No"

Ianto turned his head to find he was not alone, "Not a Day-mare."

Ianto blinked as he wondered if he had said that out loud.

"Yes" the man replied with a soft smile, "You seem to have a head injury. You are speaking your thoughts, your inner monologue appears to be broken."

Typical.

The man smiled and Ianto snorted as he realised that would have been out loud as well.

"Yes it was" he was assured with a soft grin.

"So, I suppose introductions or in order" Ianto smiled as he tried to focus, "I am Ianto Jones."

"Well of course you are" the man snorted softly, "You always are."

Ianto frowned at the strange comment.

"Huh?"

.

.

.

.

Jack had calmed enough to sit and stare at the reason for the problem.

The two images sat on the screen side by side. One with him in frame, the other…..what the fuck it that?

Jack rose and stepped up to the second image, taken with a step to the left, closer to Jack but the camera was more focused on the crate. The crates. The boxes. The…..

.

.

.

.

"What do you mean, I always am" Ianto frowned at the weird man.

"Well, I've met you a few times now, er…maybe not yet but a few" the man said with an infuriating smile, "Sorry I am irritating you. I think it's your head injury. The two memories bleeding together. You see, you know me don't you."

Ianto blinked, tried to focus as he stared at the man he knew so well from the archive files.

He knew him well, of course he did.

As well as he knew himself.

Ianto finally got some semblance of focus and realised they were in deeper shit than first thought.

"Yes" his companion sighed softly, "Up to our eyeballs Mister Jones."

.

.

.

.

Jack was still staring at the photo as Owen's voice filled the room behind him.

"The Ice Queen has gone insane" Owen snorted, "Someone flipped the Loco switch and she is currently trashing the place. I can't find him, Andy is terrified as well and we are about to head down to the lower levels. Andy said something about a prisoner? She might have put Ianto down in the dungeon as well. It seems to be her favourite storage place these days. Jack? Jack? Are you there?"

Jack wanted to answer, wanted to speak but it caught in his throat as he stared at the picture of the box.

Hiding on plain sight behind the crate with the hieroglyphs, peeking around the side with a cheeky 'hello' kinda stance. There all the time.

"Hello Sexy" Jack finally croaked as he reached out to stroke the screen.

He didn't know how he knew it, but he did.

So well.

Jack's fingers traced the outline of the Tardis.


	10. Chapter 10

10

Andy was a bundle of nerves and he clung to the back of Owen's jacket like a child too afraid to enter a haunted house.

"Look, stop it!" Owen scolded, "The act of subterfuge is fucking lost on you isn't it. Look, just act as blonde as you look, OK?"

Andy was not sure if he should be insulted by that but as they moved into the main dungeon he followed meekly, trying to look brainless.

"Oi!" Owen shouted with anger, "Where the fuck is everyone, I could be anyone swaggering in here with my big fucking balls!"

"Doctor Harper?" the guard was both confused and a little nervous as the little man the Empress liked stormed over.

"What the fuck, are you all asleep of the job? You are lucky it's me and nor some fucking spy of something, now look fucking busy in case she swans down here before I've done the checks she wanted first. You know if she gets here and I'm not done she will go off on one, a real stick up her arse today" Owen blustered, "I think she's on the rag or something."

"Tell me about it, she looked ready to kill several something's when she dragged him in" the guard nodded.

Owen felt something twist in his gut, "Yeah, well where is he. Wouldn't do for him to die before she can kill him now, would it."

The Guard waved a hand, "Down to the right. I'm going back to me diner."

"OK" Owen said perkily, grabbing Andy by his arm and yanking him along after him as they headed to the holding cells where they found Ianto and another man in an equally crumpled suit staring back.

"Shit" Owen swore "You OK mate?"

"Am I OK" Ianto repealed, "He asks the one with blood on his face and a depressed, almost defeated look. Right. Hear that Doctor? He asks me."

Owen blinked.

"His inner monologue is defective" the other man said happily, "It's me. Look, you didn't see my sonic screwdriver out there did you Doctor Harper?"

"How the fuck do you know my…"

"This?" Andy waved it though the bars and the Doctor grinned, accepting it with a flourish.

"What the fuck, what if that's a weapon ya twat?" Owen demanded.

"What's he gonna do" Ianto asked morosely, "Kill me? Really? Kill you? We are already dead down here. We all float down here."

"What?" Owen looked at Ianto with a frown, what the hell was that supposed to mean? Ianto's grin was unnerving with his face half covered with blood. Float? "You lost your mind?"

"No, he's finding it I'm afraid" the Doctor replied, "Not a lot of room for two. The two realities are fighting for attention and he can't decipher which is real and which is altered. You poor apes are just not equipped for multi-verse living are you. Unfortunately the head injury and meeting me has triggered his firewalls, not only are they crumbling but they are releasing the locked section he hid during the brainwashing."

The Doctor waved his sonic and the door to the cell clicked open, "Right. We need to move it, she will no doubt have some sort of alarm to tell her I just did that and I assume she moves quite fast."

"I think it must be a gas vapour or something, you're all talking nonsense" Owen grunted and he flew in and grabbed Ianto, hoisting him up and Andy helped drag him from the cell. "You coming?"

"Sorry, I can't" the Doctor shrugged, "She has something I need, something that can help us here. Tell Jack…you must know him here as well, if you know this lovely Welshman, tell Jack I can't find it but I know it is here. Tell him…tell him…Roussillon, no don't tell him anything. I don't know his timeline here. She has something causing this…tear..split. I have to stop it and reverse the effects. I can't come."

Owen paused and leaned against the wall , Andy hugging Ianto as Owen turned to face the Doctor who was relocking the cell and sliding the sonic into his pocket, "Are you taking the piss?"

"He doesn't do that" Ianto said dreamily, "He only speaks the truth. He only speaks the truth, like the wee dude in…arghhhh…can't remember the movie. Nicole Kidman and Obi Wan Kenobi in it…shit no, that was another movie he was in."

"Now what" Andy panted, "Beam me up Scotty?"

"What the fuck" Owen muttered as he chose a direction, "Who the fuck is Scotty?"

"I don't know" Andy replied, "It's supposed to be funny."

"Well shut the fuck up" Owen snapped, "Silence can be funny too. Shit, no these doors are all grey. The green door, we need a green one."

"Thunderbirds are go" Ianto giggled as the slid though a green door that looked like it hadn't been used in years, the stairs going down into the dark. "Great. Dark, mouldy, stinky and probably guarded by a large three headed dog or some shit. Come on fellas, tally ho."

"You know, if you didn't have a head injury I might have given you one about now" Owen grunted, "Did you really have to bring up Cerberus now!"

"Nah, I mean Fluffy. He's not so bad, Harry kept him in control with that flute, remember?" Ianto slurred, "Love those books."

"I know he's losing his mind" Owen panted as he slammed against a wall and Andy snorted. "I mean…who the hell is this Harry fella?"

Ianto was laughing softly to himself as they reached a small room and all stepped in, Owen closing the door firmly before hitting a switch.

"We're in" he said calmly.

" _You have him?"_

"Jack?" Ianto leaned close to the speaker, "Jack, you know…I am really tired of all this shit. I need a bath, a good curry and a beer. OK?"

" _Ianto?"_

"We can save the world tomorrow, fuck Torchwood, yeah?" Ianto sighed as he looked up and noticed the vents, then he swore softly, "Cariad are you about to drown me?"

"Only for a moment love" Jack sighed, "Sorry."

"Yeah" Ianto pouted as he glared at the speaker, "So you always say, you son-of-a-whore."

Suzie was already waiting outside the airlock with the tanks or air.

Finally.

Ianto was coming back as his mind finally overrode the mind control that had blocked them and Ianto's eyes widened as the water met their shoulders, reaching for the Andy and Owen to pull them back from the outer hull door.

He had been wrong.

The level of shit was not to their eyeballs, they were well over their fucking heads here.


	11. Chapter 11

11

Jack knew Ianto would panic and they would have a job moving him to the sub as it waited around the corner of the building where there was the only blind spot from her sensors but he was not prepared for what he found when the airlock drained.

Owen was working feverishly as Andy wept in a corner, scrunched in tearing at his face as Suzie held air over Ianto's face.

"Come on buddy, come on" Owen was panting, "Snap out of it."

Jack wanted to speak, to ask what he could do but he was stunned to immobility, watching as his love seemed to bleed into the grating like the water.

He was dying.

Lying in a pool of water, his head lolling back and his mouth open, Ianto was dying.

Jack crashed to his knees and gathered Ianto up, slamming their mouths together as something in the back of his mind screamed at him to do so and he…pushed.

Ianto seemed limp and lifeless still as he fell back sobbing but then … he twitched.

Jack struggled to his feet and gathered his lover, running from the room as Owen followed shouting at him to stop.

"Once he is in a hot bath you can examine him all you want but for now just get out of my way Owen or I will run you the fuck over!" Jack said as he continued and Owen raced ahead to slam into the bathroom for the Captain's Berthage and he started to draw the bath as Jack gently lowered Ianto to the ground and stripped him naked, then placed him in the bath.

Ianto cried out, grabbing for Jack as he panicked and Jack spoke softly as he assured Ianto he was safe, it was a bath. "Can you feel the heat love? Hot water. Come on, hot water. Safe. A bath tub, just the bath tub. Come on. Good boy, that practicing with your lungs did you proud, look at you. You made it, well done."

Ianto slowly stopped shaking and Jack leaned back, shaking himself as he took deep breaths to calm himself, Ianto equalling the breaths with his own.

"By the great moons" Jack said after a while, "Ianto, what the hell happened. I mean, why did she turn?"

"I don't….I don't know…fuck…cold still…tired" Ianto stammered and Jack lifted him from the water, moving to the bed where he tore his clothing off and slid in as Owen did the same without a second thought, moving behind Ianto so he was hugged from both of them.

"Put your head on my chest, it's OK" Jack soothed as Ianto tried to stop shaking. "Listen to my heart. Just me."

Ianto sighed and tried to settle.

"Remember our training, remember your bubble, come on love, build those walls" Jack whispered. "where are you?"

"In my bubble" Ianto stopped shaking.

"Where. Tell me, look around, be safe, see the safe place" Jack soothed, "See the bubble."

"Metal"

"Metal?"

"A…a bunker" Ianto frowned, his eyelashes fluttering, "We are in a bunker in the centre of the world"

"OK" Jack said slowly, "Not a rose garden this time?"

"No. A bunker. Safe. Metal walls, a hatch above us and the world further up like we are below the below" Ianto struggled to explain, "We are under the everyday under-things, under the ground where we are safe."

"OK" Jack soothed "Listen. What do you hear in the under-under."

"Dripping water"

Jack laughed softly, "Naturally, wherever we are we can't escape the water love. What else."

"Someone….something above us. In the between place" Ianto was relaxed now, limp and lax in Jack's arms as he sighed and smiled softly, "Its…a….creature…a…..you laughed and said 'We need a watch dog' I hear you happy and at ease."

"So, we have a watch dog" Jack smiled, "This is why you want a dog?"

"Maybe" Ianto grinned, "She is big. Huge, I hear her claws clicking on the grating above us in the between."

"A girl huh?" Jack smiled, "A real bitch then."

"Careful Sir, she might hear you" Ianto smiled, nuzzling against Jack.

"So, we are in the under-under, in a bunker where our watch dog patrols the between place" Jack said with a nod, "I like that. I'm there right?"

"Oh Cariad, you are always there" Ianto smiled as he started to slip into sleep, "You are the centre."

"Me and the dog" Jack snorted softly as he looked over at Owen who was nodding to show Ianto was OK.

"Myfanwy" Ianto slurred, "She is called Myfanwy and she's mine."

"I don't know if I should be jealous" Jack whispered as Ianto started to snore and Owen sighed as he relaxed. "Owen? Why did she attack him?"

"Well there was this guy in the cells, he said there was some sort of fracture or tear in the fabric or whatever. I couldn't really keep up but Ianto could. I think Ianto let a wall slip and whatever he knows about that man slipped through." Owen reasoned, "No way she smelled you. Not been near him in days. No. She did her brain digging and he was thinking about this man. The prisoner said we have been mind wiped or something. Ianto's training protected his memories and now the walls are crumbling, she saw a threat."

"Well he is safe now" Jack said as he held Ianto tightly against him, his mouth a thin stern line.

"Is he?" Owen whispered back, "Or will he be stubborn enough to want to go back for tht guy. Jack, there was something about the bumbling man that seemed to hold Ianto, like…he knew him somehow."

Jack frowned, "What guy?"

"The Doctor."


	12. Chapter 12

12

Jack was pacing, upset and visibly shaken as he asked Ianto to describe the Doctor and then he sat and stared into space for a while. Owen watched from a sofa as Ianto sat at the table with a quilt around him.

Still cold.

"OK" Jack finally sighed, "This is what I know. I know him. I don't know how, there is something … blocking me but I know him. I see him in my mind but you describe him differently. He has regenerated since we last met."

"Regenerated?"

"Timelord" Jack said as he tried to explain, his mind waking up to returning memories like a slow dawn not a sudden light bulb of enlightenment, "They have so many lives, like a cat. Each time they die they actually regenerate, their bodies renew and they look different. The vessel recreates itself so the Timelord …ah…essence within remains."

"Wow" Ianto blinked.

"Yeah" Jack grinned.

"So, he has something to do with you doing the same thing?" Ianto canted his head and Jack leaned back in his chair as he considered.

"Yes. I feel that. I died for him, I feel a deep sense of loyalty to him. He did something or the…thing that killed me made me this way…like ... some of his power went to me or something" Jack struggled, "Damn it. It's right there I just can't…"

"Brainwash" Ianto said softly, "That's what he said. We were brainwashed, mind wiped. Only our firewalls are saving us. Mine are failing; I am seeing things that aren't there, like ghosts."

"Like what?"

"Like…the dream. Not a dream, someone is doing it" Ianto frowned, "Someone was really running, scared in some place without water, like a huge countryside. Frightened and confused. It's not a dream, it's an event somewhere else. Their dream or memory. Another…well. Me?"

"That's why she attacked maybe" Owen said as he listened from the sofa "Like…you are changing? Assimilating to this new reality?"

"Does it mean I am fading into it" Ianto frowned, "That is the question. Am I becoming part of that world, fading from this one or are the two worlds crashing together. If this is true, what happens to this one? That one? Which will be dominant?"

"Easy" Jack soothed, "Your mind is whirring, you need to calm. This is all theory, I feel that the Doctor lies. He always lies. This could be some sort of test or….or…game."

"Jack, what if it is?" Ianto's eyed widened with fear, "If he was saying that to placate me? What is all this then? Am I going insane? Maybe this is a psychotic break or something, oh gods."

"No" Owen said calmly, "You make sense to me, I met him and he spoke the same. No."

"It all revolves around the artefact she was hunting for" Jack frowned, "The photo! She was almost energised by it right?"

Jack fingered his VM, looking at it. It was important, it was special. It was from his past and he knew it might help but he just couldn't remember how. Ianto seemed to think it was what set her off, could it be?

Jack looked at the photo of him again, the VM and the shadow Tardis.

No.

Definitely the Tardis.

"No, the other one" Ianto tapped the screen on the tablet Jack had and the second picture appeared, the partial. Jack looked at it and frowned, the blue box now clearly visible.

"Shit" Jack said softly, "It's something to do with this. Right?"

"The blue one?" Ianto asked with surprise.

"I've seen it before, it's something to do with HIM" Jack rose and paced some more as Ianto stared at the photo.

"What is it?"

"A police call box" Owen said with a shrug, "They used to be…"

"Tardis" Jack swung to point as Ianto, "It's called the Tardis and it's a she. Sexy. She is a…a…spaceship."

"Bullshit" Owen crowed, "Sorry, I call bullshit!"

"What?" Ianto looked at him, "What is Bull shit?"

"Shit from a…shit" Owen blinked, "A male cow was called a bull. They shit. What the hell. Why would I…wow."

"See? Those weird things we are saying, it's not just me" Ianto said to Jack, "We are all starting to exhibit this. Is this just some form of mass hysteria? Are we all suffering from some mass event or is this really some sort of mind control slipping?"

This was something that brought a new question.

How the hell did she know what it was? Tardis or VM, she could only know it was some form of power that can be used against her if she retained memories they had lost. Ergo, she still knew the truth.

Jack looked up with shock.

"Ianto, she is from the other place" he said with alarm and Ianto frowned, shaking his head to show his confusion.

"Think about it, she knows who HE is, she knows who I am…she reacted to either this VM and or the Tardis, right?" Jack held up finger for each point, "Baby, if we don't know why, how can she? Unless she was there. Part of whatever this thing is that is befuddling our brains."

'Great" Owen snorted, "So we've named it. The Befuddler."

"No" Ianto shook his head, "She called it a Paradox Machine."

"And how long before she works out that you know this too?" Owen asked with a frown, "How long before you are more wanted than the Captain here?"

"Shit" Ianto said as his hand slid to the base of his neck, "The trackers. Mine is still inactive right? We deactivated it."

"Yeah, we did" Owen rose and grabbed a handheld device, waving it at him.

"See?" He held it out for Ianto to see the screen, "Inactive. She would have to be within ten metres to reactivate it. If she even realises it isn't on anymore."

"Oh, she knows" Jack said as he started to estimate how far he needed to get Ianto to keep that thing in his head safe, "She will be screaming right about now when she tries to find him."

"The worst thing is, she will know where he is" Owen sighed, "The only way it is deactivated is each time he sets foot on this bloody vessel. As soon as he came on board and winked off her screen she knew we had him and he was now subversive."

"Subversive in a submarine" Ianto muttered.

Jack knew this was the beginning of something he hadn't wanted but looking at his poor love he knew it was something he was ready for.

This was war.


	13. Chapter 13

13

"Einstein" Ianto said softly as he cuddled next to Jack, breathing him in and Jack grunted.

"What?"

"Einstein" Ianto repeated, "That quote. 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.' Was there a war? This is the fallout? Einstein believed the third world war would plunge us back into the stone age where we threw stick and stones at each other. I mean…did this thing get turned on and create this? We always thought it was a machine that created this water world, what if we are not that far off. It didn't melt the icecaps, it created everything. Like, the final solution to saving the planet was to somehow lock us in this one? A big bubble?"

"Babe" Jack sighed, "Since you've started 'waking up' as you put it you have started going a wee bit mad. Please try and quiet your brain bit. Come on, you have to rest. Maybe sleep will clear things a bit."

You're right" Ianto muttered as he nuzzled Jack's neck, kissing and nibbling until Jack started to giggle.

Ianto slid his fingertips up Jack's arm until they tickled the back of his neck. Ianto felt his broad shoulders rise and fall with a deep sigh. Jack rested both of his hands on Ianto's hips gently and turned his entire body towards him. Ianto's hands landed flat against his chest and rested there, keeping their bodies apart but not pushing him away. Jack slid his hands from Ianto's hips up his sides and down his arms until his large hands covered Ianto's and held them to his own chest.

Ianto studied his blue eyes as they swirled with desire and wrapped his arms around his neck to pull him back to him. His passion was strong but reserved as his tongue tasted the sweetness of his lips. Ianto felt his head swim with heated thoughts that he could not untangle.

Jack leaned back into Ianto and left more damp kisses along his neck and throat and chest. Each of his gentle touch nudged the sparks into flames and Ianto's belly swirled with desires. Ianto's fingers tickled his stomach as he tugged at his tee shirt, and lifted it up over his head.

Jack's hands could not stop themselves from tickling the delicate skin. Ianto gasped softly and arched his back to push his nipples into his hands. So sensitive. Jack pulled Ianto's chest against his, trapping one of his hands between them.

His fingers teased and tickled Ianto's nipples until it threatened to pierce his skin. Ianto's gasps escaped his full lips in breathy little puffs.

Jack buried his face in Ianto's chest, letting his hand torment one while his tongue teased the other. Ianto felt his balls tighten up and suddenly he became aware of the large stiffness that pressed up into him from Jack's side of the bed.

As Jack drew Ianto's nipples into stiff peaks with his attentions, Ianto discovered that his hips would not sit still. She writhed and squirmed until one of Jack's hands was pressing him into his groin.

"Ianto," Jack rasped, his desire flowing from his swelling cock into his voice.

Ianto took a long breath in and held it. As he exhaled slowly, he slipped one hand between their bodies and squeezed Jack's throbbing groin. He groaned and slipped his hands under Ianto's nightshirt to dig his nails into his backside.

Ianto leaned in and kissed him again, pulling Jack against his bare skin and letting the warmth of his body fan the flames of their desire.

Ianto's lips sought his urgently, parting so that his tongue could tickle his lips. Jack's mouth betrayed his need for Ianto. He so badly wanted to take it slow and remind him everything that sex was supposed to be about, but his lips and tongue and teeth wanted to consume all of him simultaneously. He kissed and nibbled his way down the undulating belly as Ianto squirmed and gasped at every touch, terrified of breaking the moment but desperately wishing he would take him completely.

He groaned deeply in his chest and started kissing the back of Ianto's knees. Ianto giggled and twitched, but his giggles dissolved into moans as Jack's mouth moved upwards towards the centre of his yearnings.

Jack exhaled softly, letting his warm breath caress Ianto's dick and his thighs parted as far as he could get them. He placed one soft kiss on the throbbing member and Ianto held his breath. As Jack's tongue tasted everything Ianto had to offer, Ianto groaned and dug his nails into the bed.

Jack's need for Ianto won out over his desire to take it slow, and he traced his tongue over every crease and fold, hard rod and hidden secret. The torment was almost more than Ianto could bear but when Jack finally grazed Ianto's weeping nob, he nearly screamed.

Jack flicked and curled his tongue around him until he was panting and squirming. Ianto could feel a power surging through his body, culminating at the tiny spot where Jack's tongue met his body.

Within minutes, the rolling waves crested and Ianto screamed into the dark bedroom as he bucked against the assault of his tongue.

As Ianto's shudders slowed, Jack yanked his boxers off and crawled up on top of the heated body, gleaming with a glow of pleasure. His fingers slid easily around inside Ianto's hungry hole and within moments he was sheathed and pressed up against his dick. Ianto wrapped his legs around Jack's waist and dug his heels into his arse as though spurring him to enter him.

Jack slid himself inside to the hilt and groaned as the heat enveloped and caressed him. He paused, letting Ianto's body adjust to his size. Ianto writhed underneath him, silently willing him to thrust into him despite his width stretching him more than he had ever felt. So horny. As Ianto's muscles clenched down on him, Jack's hips took on a life of their own and he slowly pulled out only to drive himself back inside.

Ianto gasped and squeezed his thighs around Jack's waist. Ianto's hands wandered over Jack's chest and Ianto's nails raked down his flexing stomach muscles. Over and over he drove himself into Ianto, whose hips rose with his thrusts.

The waves that surged through Ianto's body earlier had returned and they threatened to wipe him out completely this time.

"Jack," he hissed. "Make me cum…"

Jack growled deep in his throat and thrust faster and harder, feeling his own release starting to tingle at the base of his cock.

"Yes, yes," Ianto moaned.

He grunted and shoved himself inside hard, feeling his climax overtake and his balls empty into Ianto's body.

Ianto inhaled sharply and then whimpered as the waves swept the reason from his mind through his orgasm. Jack collapsed on top of him, panting in his ear.

"Oh goddess," he breathed.

Ianto wrapped his arms and legs around him and held him down against him.

"I forgot it could be like that. What am I saying? It's never been like that." Ianto's words tickled Jack's ear and stroked his heart.

Ianto felt the sleepiness and exhaustion drift into his body and he let it flow until all thoughts of the Ice Queen and the Doctor and the fear had seeped out into nothingness.

Jack lay there with silent wonder at the frenzied lovemaking that seemed to have been almost animalistic in nature.

Ianto had never been so….so…..

Hot.


	14. Chapter 14

14

"She's hunting for him" Tosh called out as Suzie sat working the controls of the Submarine.

"We should have kept him in the Hub" Tosh said softly, glancing over at Ianto was looked positively green.

"I need Owen" Jack said with a determined glare into the mire ahead, "If Owen would just live down in the Hub with the rest of us I wouldn't have to trek half way around the world to find him and the bloody Janet Sub every time there is a problem."

"There is a problem then" Suzie said with a smugness that rubbed Jack and he glanced in her direction with something scrabbling about in the back of his mind.

"Cariad?" Ianto said softly, "Is that you?"

Jack realised what it was and swung to grab Ianto as he gasped, his eyes widening as he felt HER trying to grab hold of him.

Too close.

They were too fucking close to HER topside hunting like a great white shark.

"DIVE!" Jack yelled as he grabbed Ianto, "Look into my eyes, me. Just me. Come on, happy place. Happy place."

Ianto whimpered as he tried to focus on his Cariad, swallowing back bile as she became stronger in behind his eyes, his own widening, "Jack, she's trying to see what I see."

"Close them."

"But it will be dark" Ianto whimpered, the problem arising as his fear of the black consuming him rose, Tosh grabbing a picture and thrusting it at him, demanding he focus in that instead.

Ianto looked and snorted softly as a ginger cat with a tiara on its head stared from the paper, his hands shaking as he stared into the little green emerald eyes.

"Good thinking Tosh" Jack called, his arms tight around Ianto like he might fly apart if not held together. Maybe he would.

The scrabbling continued as they went deep, the Torchwood gracefully descending into darker water. The running lights flickered and Ianto whimpered softly, shaking now as the red lights turned the bridge into a blood red room, now at the depth that would have crushed a normal sub.

"Still there?" Jack whispered and Ianto tentatively let his first wall fall, imagining the ice shelf melting away.

"No" he collapsed against Jack with relief, "We are low enough."

"Damn it" Jack muttered, "I need Owen. Damn it all."

"Why" Ianto looked at Jack with those wide eyes that were so childlike that Jack wanted to gather him up and keep him safe in his pocket over his heart.

"I don't want to alarm you. It might be nothing. I want Owen to say I am right or wrong about something. Either way he will crow about it. If it's nothing then no harm done love."

"And if it is something?" Ianto frowned, sharp as always, "If this 'something' really is a thing it's bad?"

"No. not…not bad" Jack was choosing his words carefully, knowing that if there were a 'thing' what he said now would be reviewed with the edidic mind now recording his every word, "If it is a …thing…if what I think had happened has really happened it is not bad. Troublesome and maybe a wee bit scary but not bad. No. If I am right, it might be a blessing, a wonderful thing just not at a good time. As if the Gods ever cared about that."

Ianto looked hard at Jack, measuring the words, breathing and seeing the intense look Jack was giving him and felt his need to be understood, so he nodded to show he would let him have his intrigue a little longer. Whatever this 'something' was or wasn't he knew he would explain it to him when he was ready.

There were no secrets between them now.

Not now.

"Shit!" Susie squeaked and they looked out as electric jellyfish floated past, "We are deeper than we have ever been here. What the fuck is that?"

They leaned across the console as something appeared in the running lights, a ghostly figure in the distance, Jack canting his head, "Magnify by fifty?"

Suzie looked to Tosh who did what she still couldn't master and the image sprang forward.

"It's a woman" Ianto whispered, "A green woman. Really? We worshiped aliens?"

"I don't know" Jack frowned as the still image moved even closer, her green face serene and her arm raised as if reaching for something that was long gone along with her hand, no doubt snapped off by another low flying vessel at some stage.

"She has a crown" Ianto said suddenly, "Look Cariad. She was a queen."

Her crown of spikes had barnacles on like weird jewels as she stared at them with her sightless eyes, her green self now filing the screen.

"Creepy" Ianto whispered, "I don't like it, can we go around her? It's like a tomb down here."

Jack made a noise as the ocean floor became visable, the old buildings and such now recognizable as his stomach churned. The world as it once was, as if suspended in time.

"New York" Jack said softly, "Shit. She's the stature of liberty."

"How do you know that?" Ianto demanded as he turned to look at him and Jack blinked as he stared back.

He had no idea how he knew that.


	15. Chapter 15

15

"So. Let's recap" Ianto was trying to focus on something, anything other than how much water lay between him and the surface. The air.

"Right. She is searching for some artefact that can fix this world" Jack nodded.

"And she wants to either turn it on or destroy it so it can't be turned on" Ianto looked over at Andy who was tugging out a file, scanning his own notes.

"It has something to do with the blue box you have identified as being the Tardis" Andy finally added.

"And the Doctor"

"Doctor who?" Suzie asked.

"Exactly" Jack rose and started to pace the ready room "So, this device was either brought in the blue box or…shit. Right. The thing that started all this. The Doctor's companion at the time was called Germaine and he was the idiot that removed a Bertov from the Tardis. Of course the strength of the sun enhanced it's heat factor, causing a global effect. Right? How much of that story is real and how much is suggestion?"

"The Doctor. Why is this not…it's like trying to keep two images in your mind at the same time, something keeps scrambling it. She is looking for the device that created this water" Ianto rubbed at his temples, "The brainwashing, it is making us look away from it like…like…"

"A cloaking device. A Perception filter." Jack finished. "Each time we try to focus on the Doctor and the event that started this we have our minds redirecting us to other things. Shit. Ianto, you're right. He's the key. Him and his box."

"So, why is she so determined to have the device?" Ianto leaned back, "If it already did what she wanted. Why does she still need it?"

"Because it can reverse it as well" Jack guessed, "The Doctor is the only one who can recalibrate it to reverse the effects of this…this…."

"Paradox" Ianto said flatly, blinking as the word made him feel physically ill.

"That" Jack pointed at him, "I can't say it. How bloody weird, I keep going to say Pimple, no. Purple. No. Damn it panorama. See?"

"But why can I?"

"The Doctor" Andy said as he closed the file, "He said a lot of things to you, waved that weird light stick and stuff. It's like he woke you up, the real you locked away. Remember he said that us silly apes couldn't comprehend what was happening. Why he shouldn't leave with us. He knows she is looking, will find it. He has to stay nearby to hopefully get it off her or something."

"Not if we find it first" Ianto said with a defiant look at Jack.

Jack nodded, still hoping they would find Owen.

"Are you OK?" Tosh glanced at him, "You look ill."

"It's talking about it" Ianto told her confidently "Each time I try to focus I feel like hurling, it's some sort of control. I need to redirect my mind for a few minutes on something else, then I can look again. Like looking away and back quick. I need to lie down."

Jack moved quickly as Ianto stood and wobbled, helping him to the captain's berth and easing him onto the bed. Ianto sighed as Jack removed his shoes and started to gently massage his feet, crooning as Ianto rubbed at his temples.

"You need a damp cloth?" Jack offered and Ianto made a noise of agreement, Jack rose and got a cold damp cloth to place over his eyes, now concerned that his suspicions were right.

He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Not sure at all.

"Cariad?" a weak voice whispered, "Footy rubby?"

"Sorry love" Jack said softly, resuming his massage of the left foot as Ianto moaned softly and settled more.

"You're worried" Ianto whispered.

"I am" Jack nodded, not wanting to hide anything from him, "This Paramount…shit….thing…you know the word…."

"Paradox"

"Thanks. Yes, this is a worry" Jack sighed, "I am trying not to worry, I know there is little worrying will achieve but this is something we have to sort. This Doctor is someone I need to meet. If we can get him and the device, we can put them together and hopefully fix whatever did this."

"Jack?"

"Yes love."

"Do you really think this happened like…years and years ago?" Ianto lifted the cloth by its corners to peer at him, "Or is that part of the Paradox? We have false memories? Why these dreams are happening? Some are memories? I know the smell of pine needles. What the hell are they? I know their smell."

"Pine trees" Jack smiled, "Christmas trees."

"What's that?"

Jack settled to describe Christmas as Ianto listened, the tree, the gifts and the meal. As Jack described the tinsel and the baubles Ianto closed his eyes, seeing it all in his mind as he grinned softly.

"And the open fire" he whispered.

"Yeah" Jack said with surprise, "Fire."

Something impractical in a world of water.


	16. Chapter 16

16

Ianto was asleep, breathing deeply as Jack loomed over him feeling like some sort of sex fiend as he breathed him in, taking deep sniffs.

It was there.

Barely.

Jack looked at his VM and then flipped it open, looking at the buttons as he felt something in the back of his mind hum. He started tapping the buttons in a sequence that seemed right, watching the little screen light up as it came on line and he knew he had it right as it burst into noise and light, a thin light moving over Ianto from his head to his toes while expanding where needed.

Jack watched the screen and swore softly as his hunch was confirmed and he sat back to watch Ianto breathe.

Shit.

.

.

.

.

Owen finally came within range near the Himalaya Rise.

"But it's past bloody midnight and my ship is powered down for the night" he sighed, "What is so important?"

"I don't know" Tosh answered, "Love, I know you like your alone time while skulking about like Doctor Death or something but something is really worrying him this time. Even Suzie is picking up on it and you know how little she cares about those pesky feeling things."

"Well. I can't wake the crew now" Owen reasoned, "Also, we both know how pissy the Tea Boy gets if we interrupt one of their 'cuddle' times."

"What did you call him?"

"What. Ianto"

"No you called him Tea Boy." She said slowly, "And…you know he doesn't call me Toshiko. He calls me Tosh."

"Oh I don't know" Owen sighed "I don't know anything anymore."

.

.

.

.

Jack was annoyed that he hadn't been woken when Owen had first come into range but understood Owen's reasons. Ianto sat beside him with a silent annoyance as well.

"Look, I've started to remember things too" Jack said as he watched Owen's ship come into range to couple, "This wristlet, I remember how to use some features"

"Vortex Manipulator" Ianto corrected, "It's some sort of tech, right?"

"Yeah" Jack misled, "I think you starting to wake up had started me off too. Like, we are in tune or something."

"Well, this unscheduled coupling is going to take about two hours to complete, my lower ballasts are going to have to be rerouted so we can blow the airlocks" Owen was explaining, "We will connect to subsection B. OK?"

"That will give me time to shave me legs then" Tosh quipped, then blinked as they all looked at her.

"Shave your legs?" Owen said with surprise, "Girls shave their legs?"

"Of course we do" Tosh snorted, "Legs and under arms."

"Well, I'll be buggered" Owen said softly, "And me a Doctor and all."

"Well I will make sure the cook is ready for you too" Andy rose and moved away, really going to hunt Rhys down and ask about the coupling time. He knew Rhys would explain.

"Tell him I'm not hungry" Ianto called after his retreating back and Jack looked over with alarm.

"No, Ianto has to have something to eat, tell him something light" Jack added and Ianto looked at him with a soft frown, never one to correct his Captain but showing his annoyance anyway.

"Come on" Jack said to Suzie, "I want those coupling checked before he comes alongside"

They rose and heded down to the main airlock as Ianto frowned and looked over at Tosh. "I don't know what is going on with him today but it is starting to piss me off. I'm going to do my aversion therapy in the other airlock."

"Alright love" she said softly as she watched him leave, the tension leaving the room with him and she sighed. He was right. Something was definitely not right around here.

Jack watched the two vessels connect and the pumping start to clear the two airlocksso they could transfer cargo…and crew.

"Setting the clock…now" Suzie said as she flipped a switch and a countdown began to green light.

Jack headed off in search of Ianto, they had to talk about things before Owen got here and confirmed his suspicions. Now the VM was working he knew he was right, knew this was going to be a cluster fuck and…where did that word come from?

More and more things were starting to bleed through, alarm and amaze.

It was only a matter of time.

For some reason, time was a funny thing around here.

.

.

.

.

Lightening has fried my Modem and it looks like it will be 3-7 working days before another modem can be set up for my internet at home, therefore this is only possible today as I am at the library while in town. This looks like I will be going dark for a while, will try to post every second days if I can, while in town but no promises. When it is finally fixed I promise a multi-chap osting to make up for it. Sorry guys. I am gutted too. Look at it this way...what might I write while distracted?


	17. Chapter 17

17 - SMUT ALERT

Ianto was lazing by the pool of water in the lower level air lock, a place of quiet as Ianto escaped there regularly to enjoy the silence and try to get over his hatred of water.

Jack took a seat on the stairs of the pool that led down to the lower hatch and gestured with a nod for Ianto to sit beside him. As soon as he did, Jack went down on his knees and positioned himself in front of him with a hand yanking at the swimming trunks. His fingers closing around Ianto's engorged cock, he took great pleasure in his length and girth. Jack stroked him, revelling in his warm texture and masculine scent.

With his whole body quivering in delight, Jack leaned forward. His tongue snaked out, and with a light, barely there touch, he caressed his wet tip.

Ianto growled and touched his cheek. His legs tightened around his hips and prevented him from moving. He tipped his head and met with eyes so dark and so full of desire his own dick swelled, hi arse throbbed begging to be filled. But he wanted to taste him first, wanted to put his mouth on every inch of his skin. As if hearing his thoughts, Ianto spoke with a soft growl.

"I want you to fuck me with your mouth," he said boldly.

"Jesus, Ianto," he murmured.

Emotions ambushed Jack at the sound of his deep, sexy tenor. He really hadn't anticipated that he'd fall so hard for him when this all began, but Ianto was sexy, funny and giving, so very different from any other man he'd ever met.

He turned his attention back to his arousal and let out a slow breath. When his breath fanned Ianto's cock, it pulsed in response. He brushed the pad of his thumb over his tip and drew in air, as though centring himself. His eyes clouded.

"I want you so much, babe, I'm aching," he said.

Ianto could feel the passion and raw hunger rising in him, and there was nothing he wanted more than to answer the demands pulling at his body. He pressed his lips to his for a deep kiss. A moment later he abandoned his mouth and moved his lips to Jack's neck, and his chest and then down lower. Pleasure raced through him when he felt the way his body reacted.

Jack sank lower into the water and glanced at his gorgeous cock. "Actually, you're throbbing."

His edgy chuckle curled around Jack as he inclined his head and fed his cock into his mouth.

"Sweet Mother of Gods," Ianto whispered under his breath, the pleasure in his voice exciting him.

Ianto's fingers raked through Jack's hair, his hands following the motion of his head, up and down, up and down.

Ianto moaned and slipped his hand lower to cup and massage his balls. Jack inhaled his heady scent, noting the way it aroused all his senses. Jack stroked his tongue down the length of him and kissed him deeply. His whole body trembled in response to his seduction. He threw his head back and groaned. "That feels so fucking good."

His hips pitched forward, driving his cock deeper down his throat. Ianto arched into him, his body beckoning his touch. As though in tune with his every emotion, his every desire, Ianto reached down and closed his hands over his pert little breasts, kneading them, pinching his nipples until he gasped in heavenly bliss.

With much greed Jack sucked the soft folds underneath his crown and lapped at the juices pearling on his tip. He teased and caressed his erection, taking time to savour every delectable inch. Moaning and purring with pent-up need, Ianto began moving restlessly, his internal temperature igniting to a boil.

Jack spent a long time between his legs, working his tongue over his cock, raining kisses over his length, licking, sucking, and nibbling until he could feel his veins fill with heated blood. Ianto stroked Jack's face, watching the way he took him into his mouth.

Jack's muscles bunched and his cock tightened against his thigh with the tension of an approaching orgasm. Every nerve in Ianto's body came alive as heat flamed through him, his dick throbbing in preparation.

"Mmmmm…" Jack moaned, working his hands and tongue over his cock at the same time, urging him on.

His breath came in a ragged burst.

"I'm going to come, Cariad," Ianto growled. He gripped his head, and tried to ease him back.

He refused to budge, needing to taste his juice.

"I want to taste you," he murmured from deep between his legs. "Come in my mouth."

Jack heard him groan low in his throat and knew the pressure brewing deep in his groin had come to a peak. Jack flicked his tongue over his slit while his hands stroked over his cock, drawing out his orgasm.

Hands fisting Jack's hair, Ianto began rocking, pressing against him, and he knew his explosion was only a stroke away.

"Come for me, Ianto." As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a tremor rip through him. He came, fast and hard, sending his liquid heat down his throat. He swallowed every delicious drop. Once Ianto stopped trembling, Jack eased back on his heels to look up at him.

Gorgeous grey blue eyes met his. A deep, contented sigh curved his handsome face.

Ianto reached out and cupped Jack's chin, stroking him with the utmost care. His hand slid lower to grip his elbow. "Come here, Cariad."

His voice was so tender and soft it filled Jack with longing and stirred all his emotions.

Jack slid up Ianto's body until his mouth hovered near his. When he drew him close and cradled him in his arms, his heart twisted.

"That was amazing."

Jack grinned. "My pleasure."

He held Ianto tighter, their slick bodies melding together.

Their bodies pressed together, Ianto's hands began moving, tracing the pattern of his curves gently, lovingly. His mouth went to Jack's neck.

"I don't now what brought that on but I am not complaining" Ianto whispered softly into Jack's neck.

Jack held him tightly as he hoped he had set the tone for a talk he really didn't want to have.

Ianto was not going to like it one little bit.

He sure as hell didn't either.


	18. Chapter 18

18

Ianto laid stroking Jack's arm and shoulder, his fingers lightly tracing the veins and lines of his lover as Jack looked into his eyes. Jack had woken him from a dead sleep with strong arms gripping him, Jack's nightmare fading as Ianto soothed.

"Cariad, what's wrong" Ianto whispered, "I know something is worrying you. Tell me."

"I don't know how to say it" Jack sighed, "I wanted it to be Owen, I wanted to be a spectator but I can't be can I. I remembered how to work this VM. I scanned you. I know what is happening, not all of it but I do know why she reacted to you."

"You do?" Ianto's face was gentle, his smile reaching his eyes and Jack reached for his cheek.

"This wasn't supposed to happen" he whispered, "I was not supposed to fall in love. You have changed everything and I am in free fall."

"Welcome to my world" Ianto snorted softly, then he frowned, "What is it. Come on, what is it?"

"Ianto, I remembered something. It was a flash of something. The device she is looking for. Your hands were on it, we were shouting at each other. There was a lot of wind like a whirling vortex. I was shouting at you and you turned to look at me. There was this look of horror and…regret. You didn't want to do it, you had to. I was reaching for you, my hand rushed your ankle as you lay on the grating and reached for the device. There was a clock counting down and as you placed your hand on it another one snatched at the device. Her. All three of us were in that room. A room full of metal and golden lights, you reaching for the device, so did she and as you both touched it I managed to seize your ankle."

Ianto blinked, his eyes wide as he stared at Jack. "And?"

"And then I woke up feeling like I had lost something. Something important, I was crying, sobbing and I looked at you here asleep and…it was like all the goodness and beauty in the universe flowed back into my soul."

"Oh Jack, you are waxing lyrical today" Ianto sighed, "That why you grabbed me?"

"I panicked."

"Why, it was a dream." Ianto frowned.

"No darling. It was a memory." Jack said sternly, his hand now cupping Ianto's cheek, "Ianto, this is how it all started. That device. That's why she is looking for it. Either to destroy it or hide it. She created all of this, it was her. We were trying to stop her, I'm sure of it."

"And she knows" Ianto nodded, "That's why."

"No" Jack grimaced. "I believe we are in a construct, we are clones or doubles or…like an Alternate Universe created within the device or in another dimension."

"Shit"

"Ianto, when it happened I was touching you, a piece of me flowed over within you." Jack said softly, "I think this has been recent. Only the four months or so, the memories before that some sort of suggestion. Remember the day there was the thunder?"

"Loud booming, it was terrifying" Ianto nodded.

"That day, I think that was the day we were all coming thorough, the sonic booms were the other people and things entering the void" Jack whispered.

"Wait" Ianto pulled back and stared at Jack, "What are you holding back? What is it?"

"That day, the day the earth stood still, shifted and remade itself…a part of me moved within you, a transfer if you will" Jack struggled and Ianto sighed as he took him there.

"You are telling me that there is a bit of you inside me, that she smelt you in me not on me?"

"Yes" Jack slumped with relief as Ianto's eyes slid to one side as he considered, chewed over it and then they slid shut as he finally got it.

"So I am pregnant aren't I"

Jack nodded mutely as Ianto sighed again.

"Of course I am" he muttered, "Bloody Torchwood."

.

.

.

.

"Bloody Torchwood" Owen muttered as he looked at the screen of his scanner, sitting back as he confirmed what they suspected with a glare.

"So, about four months along?" Ianto asked calmly, "Like, conceived on the day of the thunder storm."

"That was a beauty" Owen snorted "Like…end of the word shit."

"Or beginning of one" Ianto said softly to himself as he sat up and looked at his Captain, Jack pulling as his chin as he stared into space. "Sir?"

"Ianto, the device is here" Jack said after a while, "The Doctor is here, he is somehow connected as it came from the Tardis right? He knows she is looking for it. We have to find it first, we need him to reverse it."

"Wait" Ianto stood, "If he reverses it what happens to us?"

"It will all snap back" Jack said as he slapped his hands together, "This reality will cease and we will become simply a moment's confusion in the mind of our other selves."

Ianto's hand went to the slightly curved stomach, "And the baby?"

"Oh" Jack said distractedly, "That will be gone, like all the rest of this."

"No" Ianto said softly, "Jack, we can't destroy our child."

"Of course not" Jack snorted, "That's why we need the Tardis. You have to get the hell out of dodge love."

"Great" Ianto sighed, "We just need the blue box, wait. It's yours. You have it remember?"

"Yeah" Jack sighed "If only I knew how to get into it."

"Have you tried that key around your neck?" Ianto asked and Jack looked at him with surprise as he slapped his chest.

So that is what he had that for?


	19. Chapter 19

19

They stood there staring up at the large blue box and Jack took a deep breath.

"Right then" he stepped forward and inserted the key that had hung around his neck for ever…or about four months. Right?

The door swung open and they entered, looking around at the large room, the grating and golden lights around the walls. Jack turned to Ianto, watching his face become one of recognition as he pointed to the corner of the room, "There it is."

The device sat calmly in the corner like an errant child sent to time out and Jack huffed as he walked over and crouched near it.

"Well, that's a familiar bum" a voice said and they swung to find a blonde woman standing there with a look of surprise, "Where did you all come from?"

"Rose" Jack said, "How long have you been in here?"

"What?" she blinked, "I don't know Jack. I only stepped out to grab that thing like the Tardis seemed to want me to. Brought me right to it. Two hours? Three?"

Everyone stared.

"OK, time is relative" Jack said as he tried to explain to the blank stares. "OK. How does this go."

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... timey wimey... stuff." Ianto said calmly, "Our four months out there have been mere hours in here. This box is like … on a different timeline."

"You seem calm about that" Owen snorted.

Ianto shrugged, looking around and then focusing on the pretty woman who was now looking intently back.

"We've met" Ianto said, "You were not so quiet though. You were cheeky."

"I was?" she asked, "Where?"

"In the tower" Ianto smiled, "You haunt me in the tower, Behind the wall. Well, one of you. Another one of you likes to stalk me, growling like some wild animal. Then this you. You are a different you. Maybe the real you and the others are ghosts."

"Are you sure you are not a Timelord?" she frowned, "How many hearts do you have?"

"Why?"

"You sound just like him" she smiled.

"The Doctor" Ianto nodded, "He's here too. In a dungeon. We have to get him because he can fix this."

"Ah" she nodded as she considered, looking at Jack who was looking only at Ianto.

"Rose, have I ever asked you for anything?" Jack begged, "Have I ever looked at you and asked you to do something for me that you might not like?"

"Jack, we were always in the shit together" she laughed, "Tell me what you need and then we can go get the madman back in his box."

"First we need to take him somewhere" Jack pointed "Only I can't go."

"Wait" Ianto frowned, "Why can I go if you can't?"

"Because if you go, you might not be able to come back" Jack sighed, "If we succeed this will all be gone and you will be in the other place. Right?"

"But what about you?" Ianto said with alarm, "What about us?"

"Ianto, this is bigger than us" Jack sighed, "This world is unstable. You know as well as I do that the weather events are getting worse, the water is getting deeper, the temperature colder. In time, this place will be unliveable. Baby, I need you gone so I can focus on this. We have to save them."

"Bloody Torchwood" Ianto muttered as he slumped and accepted that one way or another he had to go.

Jack had to stay.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Rose asked, "I have no idea how to drive this thing."

"We can't" Jack agreed and considered another option, "This can."

Jack held up the VM and all eyes slid to it, "I can remove the chip from the device and use it to jump Ianto over to the other verse from whence we came"

"But…" Ianto tried to argue but knew from the squared jaw that Jack had decided and as Jack knelt to remove the casing he looked over at the blonde. Rose watching Jack with her head slowly canting.

There is was.

Her.

The animal.

The wild creature moved its head to regard Ianto with her eyes shining, like she was amused.

Ianto considered pointing it out to Jack but knew it would do no good so he sat and waited as Jack fiddled with the VM , then rose and handed it to Ianto, "Here, let me fasten it love."

"You are sending me away" Ianto started to sob, his heart breaking as he watched Jack's hands shake with his own dismay.

"I am saving our child" Jack said without looking up, the pain too much to bear.

"I love you" Ianto whispered.

"Don't" Jack replied as he grabbed a pen and paper from a counter and started to scribble something down, "Everyone I love dies."

Ianto glanced at the blonde creature that was slowly blinking at him, her smile feral.

"Not everyone Cariad" he whispered as he felt something move in his gut.

"Somedays everybody lives."


	20. Chapter 20

20

Ianto stood forlornly watching Jack as he folded the piece of paper and placed it in Ianto's top pocket, pushing it down under his pocket handkerchief.

They were still in the Tardis, still surrounded by a golden light but as Ianto's eyes slid to the creature now standing behind Jack with her feral grin no longer unnerving but somehow calming Jack patted the pocket like he was comforting something in there.

Or himself.

"Jack" Ianto whispered "Look at me."

Jack's eyes slowly dragged their way up to meet Ianto's and the anguish was plain to see as he took a deep, shuddering breath. Ianto wanted to hold him comfort him but as his poor beloved stood there like a small child that has found out the ice-cream is all gone before he got his share Ianto knew this was not the time to hold too tightly to what he knew he was never going to keep.

Jack looked at Ianto with that stubborn jut of his chin "We will do this. We will get him back, he will activate the device and reverse this terrible mess and you will live. Our child will live. It will be ok, just be calm and remember the breathing you have been practicing. VM travel can be a bit like drowning at first, you need to remember to breathe. OK?"

"Jack."

Jack stopped fidgeting with Ianto's suit and looked at him with his hands stroking Ianto's tie distractedly.

"I love you Jax from Boeshane."

Jack blinked, his confusion clear as he stared at the man he loved. The man who had just said an incredible thing. An impossible thing.

"Who…"

"I don't know" Ianto shrugged, "I just know that you are mine and I am yours. Like…we are bonded."

"Yes" Jack swallowed thickly, "Forever."

"And a day" Ianto replied, his face softening, "I love you."

"Don't" Jack sighed, Ianto's eyed starting to well up with tears.

"Jack."

Jack activated the VM and stepped back before the three second delay timed out, Ianto's eyes rising from the flashing light to meet his.

"Ianto…I…."

Ianto was gone.

"….love you too."

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So ends this part 1 ….part 2 under construction. Thanks for reading.


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